


What?

by MercuryWilliamson (MementoMoriPontifexMortis), TinyTeddy878



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: #ibelieveinsitwell, Action/Adventure, All the main characters are POC, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Family, Family Based AU, Family Fluff, Female Character of Color, I kinda blame tumblr for this, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character of Color, M/M, Male Character of Color, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, TV Tropes, five man band, its not as bad as it sounds, no original character gets together with a main character, since i didn't like Sitwell's death, their dorks, this is sorta a fix it for me, tv tropes heavy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-03
Updated: 2014-05-03
Packaged: 2018-01-21 17:53:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1558952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MementoMoriPontifexMortis/pseuds/MercuryWilliamson, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyTeddy878/pseuds/TinyTeddy878
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Esmeralda Sitwell gets the call to adventure when a group of people breaks into her and her uncle's house while she's bathing. From then on, she and her four friends set out to find her uncle and discover the truth that's being hidden from them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What?

**Author's Note:**

> So I was upset at Jasper Sitwell's storyline in Cap 2 and then some churning and talking with TinyTeddy878 and this story was born. Tell me what you think about it, I'd honestly like to know.

Chapter One: The Call To Adventure

\--

“ _My_ _name is Esmeralda 'Ezzie' Sitwell. I'm 17 and my primary guardian is my Uncle Jasper Sitwell and holy shit do I need to talk to him.”_

Rochester, New York  
April 5th, 2014, 12:00 pm  
Weather Condition: Sunny

Esmeralda paused in her splashing as she heard a knock coming from downstairs. “Was that really a knock?” She asked herself as she pulled herself from the soapy water of the bathtub. She only got to take long baths like this when her Uncle Jasper weren't coming home for a few days, other than that, she was forced to take short quick showers, so not to use up all the hot water. She heard another knock and hoped to god it was her friends, and not someone trying to kill her. “Why would anyone try to kill me?” She wondered as she laughed at her stupid thoughts. She was 17 for crying out loud, her only opposition was the kids who hated her.

“Coming!” She cried as she heard another knock, “Hold on a second!” It wasn't as if it had been a half and hour since they began knocking, jeez what could be so important?

“ _I was in the bath when I heard the first knock.”_

Down the wooden stairs, Esmeralda paused. The stain glass doors gave way to the shapes of those knocking on her door, and there was no one she knew that was that shape. Tall and well built, the shadow at her door raised its hand once more to knock louder before it looked behind it and began to whisper. What had her uncle always told her? 'If you don't notice the shape, don't answer the door' or was it, 'If you can't notice the shape of the person, run and get me'? Hmm, she couldn't remember but oh well.

Uh-oh, her mind thought for her as she turned the other way, ran up the stairs and to her room. She had to get dressed, she thought as she dropped the green towel and began to look for something to put on.

“Underwear.” Check. “Bra.” Check. “Jeans that I can run in?” Eh, they were okay. “T-shirt that isn't outrageously conspicuous?” Again, it was eh, as she chose a plain white and pink t-shirt.”Sweater with hood and/or some kind of hat?” Check, a sweater and a beanie.

“Cellphone!” She called out for her simple touch screen but since it was an inanimate object, she sorted guessed that it wouldn't come running for her. Looking underneath her sheets, Esmeralda flinched as she heard the sound of the door busting open and a sharp voice yelling “Everyone fan out, look upstairs and downstairs, leave nothing uncovered!”

“Gotta go, gotta go.” She murmured as she grabbed the damned cellphone from beside her computer case and jammed it in her pocket, taking the computer and clambering out the window. Standing on the flat roof, Esmeralda stopped. This was going to hurt, she thought as she jolted forward and grabbed onto the first tree branch she could. Thank lord she chose the room blocked by a gigantic oak tree. Where to go, where to go? She thought as she climbed down the tree and ran to the fence.

“ _I was scared. I didn't know what to do. All I knew where that people broke into my house and I didn't want to die.”_

“Catalina?” Esmeralda asked as she walked around the neighborhood, beanie covering her vivid red hair. “Pick me up at Main?”

“ _ **Yeah, sure.”**_ Her friend, Catalina, said. **_“I'll have some people with me.”_**

“Who?” Esmeralda asked, worried about dragging more people in a group to where her Uncle said he'd be. She didn't want to bring everyone she knew, there was too many and she was worried that something bad might've happened. “'Cause I've got to find my Uncle, he's in D.C.” and I'm scared.

“It's just Nick, Cori and Aiden.” All her friends. How nice.

Shaking her head, she spoke, “Ok, that's fine. Just get here as quick as possible, and I want the front seat!” She hung up and walked out of her little neighborhood. She walked to a bus stop and waited for the first bus that would take her to Main street. Her hands shook as she texted her Uncle's number, getting nothing in response. The last time she talked to him was yesterday, he had told her everything was fine and that he would be back shortly.

Her only words had been, “Ok, love you, see you then!” Getting off the bus, she cleared her mind and went to wait at the Tim Horton’s. Catalina would call when she got there. Now all she would have to do is.. Why is that man looking at her? She wondered. No, no, stop being paranoid. He's not looking at you! Her mind supplemented for her.

“Or he could be part of whatever's trying to kill me.” She muttered under her breathe.

Nothing is trying to kill you! Her mind argued.

“Something is trying to kill me. Else, why would someone break into a house after not getting an answer. Most normal people leave.” She pulled out her phone as she felt it buzz in her hand.

 _ **'We're outside hurry**_ _ **up.'**_ It read. Catalina. Finally, something she understood. Walking out the establishment at a fast pace, Esmeralda noted the six seater green Cherokee Jeep and jumped inside the passenger side. Out of the corner of her eyes, she  say the same man follow her out and begin to look around.

“Hit it!” She shouted, hoping that her friend would do what many in action films did and hit the gas as fast as possible. Catalina looked at her before, Esmeralda clarified, “Hit the gas, I'm being followed.”

“Oh.” Catalina said as she put the car in gear and pulled into traffic. There wasn't much, most people were either at work or in school, Esmeralda and her friends in neither due to a teacher's conference day.

“What do you mean being followed?” Nick asked, leaning from the middle of the back seat. She smiled and blew him a kiss. Nick was her boyfriend of two years, and he was slightly over protective when it came to her.

“ _I only asked for a ride from my friends, but instead it became a high speed car chase. I-I didn't want them to get in troublebut I was scared, so I told them all I knew.”_

“Someone's broke into my house as I was bathing, I got the hell out of there.” Esmeralda said, “I didn't know what else to do. Uncle Jasper always told me that if something goes south, to get the hell out of dodge and go to where he is.”

“And where is that?”

“D.C.” Esmeralda answered, looking towards the street. There was something off, they were getting through traffic too quickly. “Turn down this road,” She said, pointing to an off street.

“Why?” Catalina wondered. “If we keep going down Main, we can hit to the highway.”

Nick frowned, “Cat, get off the main road. Now.” He said as the sight of four black vehicles pulled in front of them. Catalina did a U-turn and pulled down a side street. “We need to get out of here don't we?” He asked Esmeralda, who looked fixated on the street in front of them. Nothing was there, no opposition and it scared her.

“Yes.” She muttered. “We need to leave as quick as possible.”

Behind her, she heard the clicking of a computer and remembered that at the base of her feet was her laptop. Why was she just remembering this now? Why did it even matter? There was no wifi, nothing in there that could help. Pulling her phone from her sweater pocket, she opened her 4G network internet and loaded her email. Maybe her uncle had sent her an email or something.

“Hey, Ezzie!” A voice – not just any voice, her friend Corina – called from the backseat. “Your uncle was in D.C., right?” She asked.

Nodding, Esmeralda answered, “Yeah, his work takes him there sometimes.” She hated his job, being a traveling salesman was dangerous, as he came home with cuts and scrapes sometimes.

“Have you seen what's been going on down there?” Corina asked, biting her lip before handing her little tablet over. On the screen was fire and guns and Captain America and flying people. The voice over talked about betrayal and evil people, something to do with Captain America being a traitor to his country, and somebody named 'Nick Fury' being killed in an attack that was lead by Captain America.

“Uncle.. Jasper?” She wondered and began dialing the number over and over, only getting the same voice mail.

“ _'You've reached Jasper Sitwell, I'm not near my phone at the moment so please leave your name and your number and I'll get back to you.' That's his voice mail. I played over and over again, hoping he'd pick up. He never did. Do you know why?”_

“Ezzie!” Nick grabbed her phone out of her hand, “Stop, he's not picking up!” He handed the phone to Aiden, who ended the last call. “We'll go down there, find him and he'll be alright!”

“Yeah,” Aiden agreed.

She had such great friends, friends that she didn't want to get in trouble. Turning towards the back, Ezzie looked at all her friends. Cori with her smile and little tablet, Aiden with his scholarship and his strength, Nick with his love and understanding, and then there was Cat, up in front with her smile and heart, she couldn't get them in trouble, they weren't a ragtag team of misfits or a five man band, they were her friends, and this could get them hurt.

“I don't know what awaits,” she began, “I don't even know what's really going on, so I can't ask you to come along with me.”

Cat laughed, “Silly, you're not asking, we're telling you.”

Ezzie smiled and laughed, “Thank you.” She looked back towards the street, she didn't know what had happened to her uncle, she didn't know what was in the future and she sure as hell didn't know why she was being chased but she knew that she would protect her friends to the end.

***

Two hours after they had begun to be on the run, Catalina pulled over to a gas station and sent Aiden and Cori in to get some food while she got a full tank. Despite Nick's warning of not using the credit cards, Catalina did, but she left it in the slot with a note with the pin. It wasn't like they'd be using it again.

“So, how far do we have?” Catalina asked Nick, who had a map in his hand and was looking at it with heavy interest.

“A few more hours, depending on what route we take.” He ran a finger down the paper. Catalina leaned over and looked at it, scrunching her nose. It's a 7 hour drive normally but since they were on the run, and she didn't know how well these guys information was, Catalina had opted on taking longer. No main streets if they can avoid it, no tolls, no major stores if they could; just little empty streets and vacant gas stations.

Aiden and Cori returned with two full bags each; two with food, and two with drinks. Cori smirked at them as she climbed into the car, while Aiden handed a bag to Esmeralda who thanked him. She had been pretty quiet on the ride, too busy thinking about what was going to happen. Everyone tried to bring her into conversationsbut she wasn't speaking.

“Where do you think he is?” She asked as Catalina got back in the car and turned the key. “It's been so long since he talked to me.”

“We'll find him,” Catalina said placing a hand on her friend. “We'll find him and you can hit him until he explains everything.” She laughed and Esmeralda laughed with her. She was definitely going to hit her uncle.

“Where are we?” Cori asked, taking a swig of her blue Gatorade. “I mean, I'm pretty sure we passed Ithaca a while ago.”

“Yeah, we did.” Catalina said before Nick could, “We're taking the long route, I don't want anything to be able to track us.”

“Good idea.”

And it was, for the next two hours they had seen nary a car or person. It was only when they were exiting New York that they entered some trouble. After the toll into Pennsylvania, Catalina and Esmeralda began to see more black cars. “I think they found us.” She said as she pressed lightly on the gas.

“Or those could be normal people cars.” Nick said, using a warning tone. “We don't want to look out of place here.”

“I don't want to die at 17 and in Pennsylvania of all places.” Cori joked as she brought her tablet out again, “I'm checking the weather and traffic.”

“ _Everything started to really go wrong when we got to Pennsylvania, it was flooded with those same black cars. Cat decided that instead of going the long route, we'd get on the quick and easy route. Only problem, it wasn't easy.”_

“Cat, can't you go faster!” Aiden yelled as one of the black cars almost rammed into them. “I mean, I'd like not to die!”

“I'm going as fast as I can.” Cat growled as she swerved the car, “But if you remember, I'm not the best driver out of us all, especially in your stupid car!”

“Please stop fighting!” Esmeralda yelled, grabbing the handle above her door. God, what was the name of that stupid thing that basically saved her life. Her uncle Jasper had always called them 'oh shit, things just got real' handles.

“They're called 'assist handles', Essie, and why is that a thought in your mind?” Nick yelled at her as he was thrown back to hit the black seats of the car. “Is that seriously a big issue?” He asked.

“Yes, it is.” Esmeralda yelped as she looked outside and saw more cars coming along, “And can we please focus on not hurting any of the passerbys?”

“I'm focusing, I'm focusing but you forget, I'm not trained to do this!” Cat said, and then she looked into the mirror, “Cori, can you be a hacker and make sure we don't run into any stops, like the Smart Guy does in most action movies?”

Cori made a face, “I can try?” She muttered as she tapped away at her tablet. “I mean, hacking isn't like movie magic so I'm not sure how well I can do.” Clicking and clinking away, Cori made another face, “I think I'm accessing the traffic lights, but I mean, there's a chance that we can cause -”

“Just do it!” Esmeralda yelled, “We haven't got the time!” She rolled up her window and asked for her phone back. “I'm leaving him a message!”

“ _'Uncle Jasper, please pick up, I'm scared and people are chasing us. I don't know what to do. I love you and please, please pick up.' That was my message, I was so scared, and terrified about dying in Pennsylvania or just dying in general. I didn't know what... I've been waiting for his message, please tell me where he is!”_

“ _Your Uncle..”_

“Please tell me we lost them, please tell me we lost them..” Aiden asked, as Cat turned down an empty street and then down another. Cat said nothing. In fact, no one said anything for the next few miles.

“I'm thinking we need to just hurry up and get there.” Cori said as she tapped on her tablet over and over, “No more avoiding certain things.”

The rest of the group nodded and Esmeralda frowned, “Why are they so bent on trying to either kill me or get me?” She murmured. It made no sense. She was 17, a nerd in school and easily bored by shiny things. She had nothing that anyone would want. But... there was her Uncle and though he told her she was just a salesman, there was something... just something that wiggled inside of her.

“What are you thinking about?” Nick asked, reaching forward to grab her hand. He looked at her with apt attention and Esmeralda broke.

“I think my Uncle wasn't just a salesman.” She said and Cori snorted.

“I'm sorry, this is a thought that is _just_ getting to you now? Not like when your house was broken into, when we were being chased? Or hell, how about every time he has come home from 'work' covered in bruises or cuts or injuries?”

She was right, Esmeralda had to give it to her, those were times when a sneaking something came upon her as her Uncle just waved it off. 'Dangers of a job.' He told her, 'Being a traveling salesman is more than what meets the eye.' But maybe – no quite definitely, he was more than what met the eye.

She sighed, “What the hell is going on with my life?” Esmeralda wondered and her friends shrugged. They didn't know. She didn't know and it seemed like the only person who did know – or who could know, was her Uncle and that was a person she couldn't find.

God, who even was her Uncle? Closing her eyes, she tried to think of the man that had raised her since she was 3, the man that became more to her than just an Uncle, he was a father and a mother and a sibling, everything he thought she needed, he became; a confident, a friend, a diary, a person to argue with, a person who she couldn't live without. Her Uncle was everything a family should be, and he was just one person.

“Dammit Uncle J, where are you!” She yelled, “Dammit!”

He would frown at her if she had swore in front of him and since he wasn't here, she just let loose all he swears she could. “Dammit, fuck this! I need him, I need him to be alright, I need... I need, I don't know. I need my family back.” She gasped as a wave of tears hit her. If he was... if he was hurt, or god forbid, dead, Ezzie wasn't sure how'd she go on. She had no idea where she would be placed. Her Uncle always said... always said that she'd be fine if he was to perish one day.

Ezzie smacked him in the arm and frowned before walking off and going to the living room to pout at his words. She was positive her biggest fear was losing him and for him to have said that, well it set her off.

“Es, don't worry,” Aiden said, moving to reach forward in a comforting motion, “when we get to Washington, he's gonna be there. He probably can't call. The lines are down and he's probably stuck trying to give his testimonial, or whatever that shit's called, and he's worried shitless about you.”

Ezzie smiledbut the fear that was there stayed deep in her stomach and throat. Not even Aiden's senseless swearing was helping her. “Thanks.” She muttered, and he nodded, sensing her emotions but not wanting to pry into her personal life. He had only been friends with her for the last six months, and as such hadn't felt privy to all the information she had to give.

“So,” Cori began, “What's going on?”

“We don't know.” Nick said, making a face at her.

Cori copied his face before sighing. “Not about all this stuff, dimwit.” She said. “About Ez's emotional connection with her Uncle.”

“Oh.” Nick looked towards Ez, “Well, he's all she's got.” He answered for her. It was a lot more than that, he knew it but he hadn't felt like delving into everything.

“He's been my primary guardian since I was 3, when my parents died in a car crash.” Esmeralda started while looking out the window, it had been a few miles since they last had issues with the black cars, and hopefully they wouldn't have issues with them again. “I have no grandparents according to my Uncle, said they died a few years before I was born. He took me to their graves so I could meet them.” She laughed, that was an exciting adventure they had together. “He's been a whole family for me since I came to live with him.”

A father for those days that he needed to be overprotective. A mother for those days that he needed to be understanding and kind. A sibling for those fights. An Uncle for the _true_ understanding. Everything. Everything, and now, now he could be nothing but a stain on the side of a street because of the fighting happening down in D.C.

“I need him, Cori, more than I need air.” She finished with a sharp glare to the side streets they passed. Inside could be happy families and here she was, hoping to God that her only family wasn't dead.

Cori nodded, “Then we'll get him.” She said, “Even if we have to take down the already failing and falling government, we'll get him.” She was ever the person to joke about the state of the government, “Plus, Captain America's down there fighting for people like us, hopefully but since it's Captain America, I doubt he's fighting for the bad guys, and so he'll protect your Uncle until we get there.”

Ok, now she was just grasping air movements. “Captain America is probably government owned.” Catalina said, “Plus, the dude's probably got better things to do.”

“Where's the rest of the so called group that fought off the aliens in Manhattan those months ago?” Nick asked, “You'd think they'd stay near each other.”

“Especially since Iron man was attacked in Malibu not that long ago, and then Thor showed up in England,” Aiden pointed out, “you'd think they'd be a closer group of people to at least tackle those problems together, but nope!”

The group in the car laughed. Though most of them had went out and bought the legendary toys for the so called 'Heroes of New York', they still had fun cracking jokes at the group. It was something that relieved them when they thought about the fact that they weren't alone in the world. “How much further until we get to DC?” Esmeralda asked, and Aiden grabbed Cori's tablet to press the buttons.

“About an hour,” He said, “Since we're out of Pennsylvania.”

“We've been pretty safe for a while.” Cori said and Nick threw her a look.

“Really?” He scoffed, “Cause I remember being attacked by black jeeps about two or three hours ago near the end of Pennsylvania.”

She waved him off, “It's amazing you can remember that but heavens forbid you remember Esmeralda and yours anniversary.” She joked. “Plus that was at least only an hour ago, 40 minutes at least, so your memory's not that good!”

Catalina frowned, “I'm worried,” she said, “they say a fight's going on down there, or that there was one, so how bad is it? Bad like Manhattan? Or bad like Katrina?”

Cori ripped her tablet from Aiden's hands and opened a news page, skimming down, she found an article about DC. Clearing her throat, she began, “It is beginning to look like a war zone but who's the enemy, no one knows. DC government is overrun by a secret agency called Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division, S.H.I.E.L.D for short, and many are claiming they are the enemy. With Captain America held at gunpoint yesterday in a public street after a magnanimous car accident above on the ramp by those very agents, many are left wondering if S.H.I.E.L.D are the good guys, despite their comment. “We are not holding Captain America hostage, we are working out what happened, everything will be very clear shortly.” Spoke their law division but what many of us are left wondering is what did they do that would leave straight laced Captain America, along with two other fighters, to go against this agency?” Cori frowned.

“More shit's been hitting the fan since I last read the update.” Cori muttered and all her friends looked down in shock. Looking around, she reached for the closest person and tried to smile. “Don't worry guys, there's more articles.”

Aiden grabbed the tablet and clicked another link, “'Captain America: Friend or Foe?' Yesterday afternoon, an attack on DC was lead by none other than Captain America, one of the members of the mysterious group that saved Manhattan a few months ago. No one knows what started the attack, or what set Mr. Captain America off, but we do know that it happened after the attack on Mr. Nicholas Fury, a close friend of Senator Alex Pierce, who was quoted saying 'This is a horrible loss of life, Nick Fury was a close friend of mine and to see his life ended in a such a terrible way is something that I never expected to happen. After that, Senator Pierce, had no other words, citing grief as to why he had to leave.”

“ _News articles told of us of the impending problems we might encounter, but that never actually prepared us for being in DC, I mean I had been there a few times, my uncle thought it'd best I'd learn about our countries history and the government and things like that, plus, he'd thought it be fun. It mostly was, unless he left me in the hotel room while he went and did something for work, but that only happened like twice.”_

“ _Miss Sitwell, please let me talk.”_

“ _Sorry, you were saying about my uncle?”_

“ _Yes, your uncle is..”_

Washington DC  
April 5th 2014, 7:30 pm  
Weather conditions: Fair

Esmeralda held back a gasp at the sight of the ruined streets and the fires that had been started but never put out. Unlike Manhattan, there were less destroyed buildings, if you ignored the big destroyed building on the Theodore Roosevelt Island, and there was only a dozen or so reported deaths with at least a few dozen injuries. The fighting had ended, or so the news reports they had been listening to had said, but Esmeralda had learnt not to trust the news.

“I've got to find a higher up, maybe they have a list of all the displaced or injured people.” She uttered and left the car with her phone and laptop. There was police officers every where, taking care of people who had come to look for family. They directed people towards military men and woman who had clip boards in their hands.

“Ezzie!” Nick yelled as he ran forward to her. “Don't leave without the group!” She looked back and smiled.

“Sorry, I'm just..”

“No, it's okay, we just don't want you to leave our sights.” Cat said as she clinged onto her purse. “We get that you're worried but please, stay near us.”

Esmeralda nodded and walked to the nearest military person, “Hi, I need to know, my Uncle Jasper was down here for work, please.” No words were coming out correctly, “I just need to know, is he alive or not.”

The military man looked at her with sad eyes, “I'll need his full name,” He said.

“Jasper, Jasper Sitwell.”

The man ran a finger down his board, looking for the last names that started with S, when he got there, he saw the note beside the name the young girl in front of him was looking for. “I'm sorry, I'll need to defer you to my CO.”

Esmeralda furrowed her browsbut Aiden was the first person to talk up, “Why?” He asked, “That makes no sense, shouldn't you be able to tell us.”

“I'm sorry, but she needs to go talk to my commanding officer,” The man said, shrugging lightly. “He's over at the police tent over there.”

They nodded and decided to leave it at that, with Cori promising to remember his name, “For future purposes.” She said when asked about it. The walk to the police tent wasn't lookbut it was painful for all of them. Esmeralda's heartbeat was heavy and it stopped all too much while they walked down the streets.

“What if..” She began, “What if he's dead?” She asked the group, frowning and biting her lip.

“He's not dead.” Nick said, putting a comforting arm around her. “You just probably have to go talk to this guy because-”

“Because your uncle did something big, like probably save a person and got hurt and now he's in the hospital or something.” Cori interrupted. “I bet you're just needed so this guy can give his thanks to you.”

“ _Your uncle is dead.”_

“I'm a special higher up, and when I heard you were in town, I felt the need to talk to you about your Uncle.” The man in front of her said, holding his hand out for her to shake. Esmeralda nodded and shook his hand, “I knew your Uncle, very well.” _or at least I thought I did._

“It's nice to meet you. How did you know him?” She asked, moving around in her seat. She was moved to a building farther into the city, “I wouldn't have guessed a military man would know my uncle.”

The man smiled, “Yeah, we were friends. Close. I need to know how you got here first.” He said and Esmeralda nodded and went to her story.

“ _News articles told of us of the impending problems we might encounter, but that never actually prepared us for being in DC, I mean I had been there a few times, my uncle thought it'd best I'd learn about our countries history and the government and things like that, plus, he'd thought it be fun. It mostly was, unless he left me in the hotel room while he went and did something for work, but that only happened like twice.”_

“ _Miss Sitwell, please let me talk.”_

“ _Sorry, you were saying about my uncle?”_

“ _Yes, your uncle is_ dead.”

“I'm sorry?” She muttered, “Please repeat that.”

The man frowned, “You're uncle is dead. I'm sorry. He was a causality, hit by a car on the highway.”

Esmeralda stopped breathing. Her uncle, her only family, dead. Stain on the side of the street. The world spun around and around at this revelation. Her Uncle Jasper, gone. Ripped from her life. “Why... why was he..?”

“Your Uncle Jasper was working with the enemies, and he was a causality of the side of justice.”

Justice had killed her uncle? That, that made no sense. Her Uncle Jasper wasn't evil, didn't work with bad guys, “For fucks sake, he's a traveling salesman!” She yelled as she broke down. Tears clouded her view as she sunk down to the ground, her throat was raspy and she could feel the snot running from her nose. Her mind reeled as the words, 'your uncle is dead' continued to spin around and around her brain. How the fuck does a traveling salesman work with the enemies of Captain America and then die as a shit stain on the ground?!

“Ma'am, I'm sorry for your loss.” The man said as he frowned at her and got up to leave. Esmeralda huffed out the air in her chest as she watched the man leave, how dare he? How dare he tell her information and then leave!

“Fuck this all!” She cried as she rubbed her hands down her face. She'd have to scrub the tears from her face, that way her friends wouldn't know about the horrendous tears that had made their way down her face. “God fucking damn it. Fuck. Fu... Uncle Jasper.” She whined.

“I hate you.” She muttered from her spot on the floor, “I hate you so much, how dare you leave me! How dare you leave me like this!”

Her phone buzzed from it's spot on the deskbut Esmeralda ignored it, more than happy to pay attention to her own wallowing. She was alone in this world now, only with her friends and her sorrow. God, this sucked. This sucked a lot. A lot. “How am I supposed to, I mean, c'mon Uncle Jasper, don't leave me. Please don't leave me.” She whispered to the air.

The phone buzzed again and Esmeralda threw it a glare before reaching for it. “Who the hell is texting me while I'm trying to wallow in my fucking despair!” She angrily muttered at it. Opening the text message, Esmeralda frowned.

“ _ **I'm not dead. Come find me. -Uncle J.”**_

“Uncle Jasper?”

-To Be Continued-

 


End file.
